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M I N U T E S <br /> <br /> <br />Eugene City Council <br />Work Session <br />McNutt Room <br />777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon <br /> <br /> October 29, 2008 <br /> Noon <br /> <br />COUNCILORS PRESENT: Mike Clark, Jennifer Solomon, Betty Taylor. George Poling and Alan <br />Zelenka participated by telephone. <br /> <br />COUNCILORS ABSENT: Chris Pryor, Bonny Bettman, Andrea Ortiz. <br /> <br />Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order at 12:03 p.m. <br /> <br />A. WORK SESSION: <br /> Downtown Parking <br /> <br />Jeff Petry, Parking Services Manager for the Planning and Development Department (PDD), provided a <br />presentation on downtown parking beginning with the City installing downtown parking meters in 1939 and <br />the creation of the downtown parking exempt zone in 1948. He said the City of Eugene had converted from <br />a customer-paid/meter system to a free parking system in 1972, and the expenses associated with the <br />parking program were paid with business and downtown district taxes. He related that due to changes in the <br />downtown business dynamics, and Ballot Measure 5, the City had switched back to a customer-paid <br />program in 1992. He noted that the City had also instituted the first-hour and weekends-free policy for the <br />three City-owned garages and the business validation program at that time. <br /> <br />Mr. Petry reviewed the revenue and expenses of the parking program. He noted that the City spent <br />$180,000 to maintain its structures in 2007 and was projected to spend almost $1 million on maintenance in <br />the next fiscal year. He said the Parking Enterprise Fund was intended to be self-sufficient. He stated that <br />the program currently had $4.8 million in revenue and $4.7 million in expenses, a $100,000 surplus, but a <br />more long-term view indicated that the capital needs would deplete reserve funds within three years. <br /> <br />Mr. Petry explained that the downtown area was a parking exempt zone; businesses were not required to <br />provide minimum parking standards. He said staff had met with downtown business owners a few weeks <br />earlier and had also met with Chamber of Commerce representatives, and members of Downtown Eugene <br />Incorporated (DEI), earlier in the year. He reported that top level feedback was that there was a lack of <br />information about, and understanding of, the parking system. He cited, as an example, that the hours during <br />which meters must be used were set by the businesses adjacent to them and a business could call parking <br />services to come and adjust the meter time for more or fewer hours. He related that business owners were <br />also concerned about the lack of parking in the downtown area. He said the narrow street widths precluded <br />having angled parking, which would accommodate more cars. He noted that another concern expressed had <br />to do with people monopolizing parking spaces by feeding the meters. He explained that City code <br />prohibited individuals from doing so, but this regulation was only enforced on a complaint basis. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 29, 2008 Page 1 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />